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Tuesday, January 5, 2010

Book Autopsies

More and more, I see "altered book" as an artform in galleries both online and in the real world. As I've said before, as a collector I find the notion as repulsive as it is intriguing. There's a fascination with peeling back layers and finding what's beneath that is usually metaphorical in literature, made actual in the practice of book alteration. The 'book autopsy' is an apt description used by altered book artist Brian Dettmer.
Much like actual autopsies, I view this practice with the feeling of being stuck somewhere between a macabre fascination and the horror of cutting into something so precious and fragile. As is typical in any movement artistic or otherwise, much of the results are banal and unworthy of the materials that sacrifice themselves to the cause of their creation. In some cases, however, the results are beautiful, surreal, even haunting.